Here's to the
bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here's to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

Please enjoy the following information
on the Tradition of New Year, its customs, foods and its
celebrations.

It's
Another New Year...

...but why do we celebrate on January 1st?

10...9...8... The lighted ball in New
York's Times Square starts picking up speed. 7...6...5... It's almost time.
4...3...2... Everyone holds their breath for the last few seconds. We're about
to jump that seemingly large but invisible gap that separates the years.
1...0... Happy New Year!

We made it. The old year, for better or
worse, is gone for good. The new year has begun with fresh promise. Here's our
chance to start again, to do it right this time, to have another shot at
success...at glory...at just accomplishing what we resolve to. It's time to shed
that baggage from the year long gone and celebrate what can be in the 365
untouched days to come. Happy New Year!

Not all countries celebrate the
New
Year at the same time, or in the same way. This is because people in
different parts of the world use different calendars. Long ago, people divided
time into days, months, and years. Some calendars are based on the movement of
the moon, others are based on the position of the sun, while others are based
on both the sun and the moon. All over the world, there are special beliefs
about the New Year.

ANCIENT NEW YEARS

The celebration of the new year is thought to be thee oldest of all holidays, first
observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. In the years around 2000 BC,
the Babylonian New Year began with the first New Moon (which is the crescent) after the Vernal Equinox
(the first day of spring).

It makes sense to celebrate the
new year at the beginning of spring. After all, it is the time of year the
new growth peaks out from the snow, new leaves burst from trees, it is the
season of planting new crops and welcoming warmth. January 1, on the other hand, has no astronomical nor agricultural
significance. It is purely arbitrary.

The Babylonian celebrated the new
year for eleven
days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration, Today's one
night and one day of celebration fails in comparison to those of the
Babylonians.

Romans observed the new year in late
March, but their calendar was continually changed by various emperors so
that their calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun.

To set the calendar right, the Roman senate,
in 153 BC, declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year. But the
changing of the calendar
continued until Julius Caesar, in 46 BC, established what has now come to be known
as the Julian Calendar. It again established January 1st as the new year. But in
order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar had to let the previous
year drag on for 445 days.

THE CHURCH'S VIEW OF NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS

In the first centuries AD the Romans celebrated the new year and the early Catholic Church condemned the festivities as paganism. But as
Christianity became more widespread, the early church began having its own
religious observances concurrently with many of the pagan celebrations, and New
Year's Day was no different. New Years is still observed as the Feast of
Christ's Circumcision by some denominations.

During the Middle Ages, the Church remained opposed to
celebrating New Years. January 1st has been celebrated as a holiday by Western
nations for only about the past 400 years.

NEW YEAR TRADITIONS
One tradition of the season includes making New Year's resolutions. This tradition
dates back to the early Babylonians. Modern
resolutions include the promise to spend more time with family, lose weight or quit smoking. The
most popular Babylonian resolution was to return borrowed farm equipment.

The Tournament of Roses Parade dates back to 1886. In
that year, members of the Valley Hunt Club decorated their carriages with
flowers. It also celebrated the ripening of the orange crop in California.

Although the Rose Bowl football game was first played
as a part of the Tournament of Roses in 1902, it was replaced by Roman chariot
races the following year. In 1916, the football game returned as the sports
centerpiece of the festival.

The tradition of using a baby to signify the new year
was begun in Greece around 600 BC. It was their tradition at that time to
celebrate their god of wine, Dionysus, by parading a baby in a basket,
representing the annual rebirth of that god as the spirit of fertility. Early
Egyptians also used a baby as a symbol of rebirth.

Although the early Christians denounced the practice as
pagan, the popularity of the baby as a symbol of rebirth forced the Church to
reevaluate its position. The Church finally allowed its members to celebrate the
new year with a baby, which was to symbolize the birth of the baby Jesus.

The use of an image of a baby with a New Years banner
as a symbolic representation of the new year was brought to early America by the
Germans. They had used the effigy since the fourteenth century.

FOR LUCK IN THE NEW
YEAR
It was once believed that one could affect the luck they would have
throughout the coming year by what they did or ate on the first day of the year.
For that reason, it has become common to celebrate the first few
minutes of a the new year with family and friends. Parties often
last into the middle of the night after the ringing in of a new year. It was
once believed that the first visitor on New Year's Day would bring either good
luck or bad luck the rest of the year. It was particularly lucky if that visitor
happened to be a tall dark-haired man.

Traditional New Year foods are also thought to bring
luck. Many cultures believe that anything in the shape of a ring is good luck,
because it symbolizes "coming full circle," completing a year's cycle.
For that reason, the Dutch believe that eating donuts on New Year's Day will
bring good fortune.

Many parts of the U.S. celebrate the new year by
consuming black-eyed peas. These legumes are typically accompanied by either hog
jowls or ham. Black-eyed peas and other legumes have been considered good luck
in many cultures. The hog, and thus its meat, is considered lucky because it
symbolizes prosperity. Cabbage is another "good luck" vegetable that
is consumed on New Year's Day by many. Cabbage leaves are also considered a sign
of prosperity, being representative of paper currency. In some regions, rice is
a lucky food that is eaten on New Year's Day.

Around the world, different cultures have
their own traditions for welcoming the new year.

The Japanese hang a rope of
straw across the front of their houses to keep out evil spirits and bring
happiness and good luck. They also have a good laugh as the year begins to get
things started on a lucky note.

In West Bengal, in northern India, people like to wear pink, red, purple and white flowers. Women favor yellow, the
color of spring.

Hindus put shrines next to their beds so they can see
beautiful objects when they wake up to the new year.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canadians
enjoy the traditional polar bear swim. People of all ages don their swim suits
and take the plunge, an event that is sure to get you started in the new year
with eyes wide open.

A fairly new tradition that is starting to
spread worldwide is a community celebration of the visual and performing arts on
New Year's Eve. Started in Boston in 1976, an organization called First Night
promotes alcohol-free festivals in 186 American cities, 16 in Canada, plus
Hastings, New Zealand and Greenwich, England. Typical experiences include ice
sculptures, dancing, storytelling, theater, poetry, films and, at the stroke of
midnight, an elaborate fireworks display.

(See below for more celebrations around the
world.)

AULD LANG SYNE

The song, "Auld Lang Syne," (playing right now on your speakers), is sung at the
stroke of midnight in almost every English-speaking country in the world to
bring in the new year. At least partially written by Robert Burns in the 1700's,
it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. Early variations of the song
were sung prior to 1700 and inspired Burns to produce the modern rendition. An
old Scotch tune, "Auld Lang Syne" literally means "old long
ago," or simply, "the good old days."

Here are lyrics to two versions we found.

Auld Lang Syne
================
Robert Burns

Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
I
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
II
And surely ye 'll be your pint' stowp,
And surely I 'll be mine,
And we 'll take a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
III
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we 've wander'd monie a weary fit
Sin' auld lang syne.
IV
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
Sin' auld lang syne.
V
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie 's a hand o' thine,
And we 'll tak a right guid-willie waught
For auld lang syne!
Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindess yet
For auld lang syne!

**************

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days of auld lang syne? And days of auld lang syne, my dear,

And days of auld lang syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And days of auld lang syne?

We twa hae run aboot the braes

And pu'd the gowans fine.

We've wandered mony a weary foot,

Sin' auld lang syne.

Sin' auld lang syne, my dear,

Sin' auld lang syne,

We've wandered mony a weary foot,

Sin' auld ang syne.

We twa hae sported i' the burn,

From morning sun till dine,

But seas between us braid hae roared

Sin' auld lang syne.

Sin' auld lang syne, my dear,

Sin' auld lang syne.

But seas between us braid hae roared

Sin' auld lang syne.

And ther's a hand, my trusty friend,

And gie's a hand o' thine;

We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

**********

Notes: Robert Burns sent a copy of the original song to the British Museum with this comment: "The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man's singing , is enough to recommend any air."
(Gavin Grieg: "Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads")

New Year
Celebrations Around The World

In ancient Egypt, New
Year was celebrated at the time
the River Nile flooded, which was near the end of September. The flooding of
the Nile was very important because without it, the people would not have been
able to grow crops in the dry desert. At New Year, statues of the god, Amon
and his wife and son were taken up the Nile by boat. Singing, dancing, and
feasting was done for a month, and then the statues were taken back to the
temple.

In the Soviet Union, children
who live in the city of Moscow may visit the Kremlin Palace of Congresses.
There they will see a huge fir tree called the New Year Tree. The tree is
decorated with countless colored lights. Children might also see a
fairy-tale play and get gifts from Grandfather Frost and his helper the Snow
Maiden.

People in Sweden attend church services in the morning. Then comes a big
family dinner, much like the one at Christmas.

The Muslim calendar is based
on the movements of the moon, so the date of New
Year is eleven days earlier
each year.

Iran is a Muslim country
which used to be called Persia. The people celebrate New
Year on March 21, and a few
weeks before this date, people put grains of wheat or barley in a little
dish to grow. By the time of New Year, the grains have produced shoots, and this reminds the people of spring and
a new year of life.
Most Hindus live in India,
but they don't all celebrate the New Year
in the same way or at the same time.

The people of West Bengal, in northern
India, like to wear flowers at New
Year, and they use flowers
in the colors of pink, red, purple, or white. Women like to wear yellow,
which is the color of Spring.

In Kerala, in southern India, mothers put food, flowers, and little gifts on a special tray. On
New Year's
morning, the children have to keep their eyes closed until they have
been led to the tray. In central India, orange
flags are flown from buildings on New
Year's Day.

In Gujarat, in western India, New Year is celebrated at the end of October, and it is celebrated at the same
time as the Indian festival of Diwali. At the time of Diwali,
small oil lights are lit all along the roofs of buildings.

At New Year, Hindus think
particularly of the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi.

In Vietnam, the New Year is called Tet Nguyen Dan or Tet for short. It begins between January 21 and
February 19, and the exact day changes from year to year. They believe that
there is a god in every home, and at the New Year this god travels to
heaven. There he will say how good or bad each member of the family has
been in the past year.
They used to believe that
the god traveled on the back of a fish called a carp, and today, they
sometimes buy a live carp, and then let it go free in a river or pond.
They also believe that the first person to enter their house at New
Year will bring either good
or bad luck.

In Japan, New Year is celebrated on
January 1, but the Japanese also keep some beliefs from their religion,
which is called Shinto. To keep out evil spirits, they hang a rope of
straw across the front of their houses, and this stands for happiness
and good luck.
The moment the New Year begins, the Japanese
people begin to laugh, and this is supposed to bring them good luck in
the new year.

China(courtesy Denise Richards) The origin of the Chinese
New Year is itself centuries old - in fact, too old to actually be traced.
It is popularly recognized as the Spring Festival and celebrations last 15
days.
Preparations tend to begin a month from the date of the Chinese New Year
(similar to a Western Christmas), when people start buying presents,
decoration materials, food and clothing.

A huge clean-up gets underway
days before the New Year, when Chinese houses are cleaned from top to
bottom, to sweep away any traces of bad luck, and doors and windowpanes
are given a new coat of paint, usually red.

The doors and windows are then
decorated with paper cuts and couplets with themes such as happiness,
wealth and longevity printed on them.
The eve of the New Year is perhaps the most exciting part of the event, as
anticipation creeps in. Here, traditions and rituals are very carefully
observed in everything from food to clothing.

Dinner is usually a feast of
seafood and dumplings, signifying different good wishes. Delicacies
include prawns, for liveliness and happiness, dried oysters (or ho xi),
for all things good, raw fish salad or yu sheng to bring good luck and
prosperity, Fai-hai (Angel Hair), an edible hair-like seaweed to bring
prosperity, and dumplings boiled in water (Jiaozi) signifying a long-lost
good wish for a family. It's usual to wear something red as this color is
meant to ward off evil spirits - but black and white are out, as these are
associated with mourning.

After dinner, the family sit up for the night
playing cards, board games or watching TV programs dedicated to the
occasion. At midnight, the sky is lit up by fireworks.

On the day itself, an ancient custom called Hong Bao, meaning Red Packet,
takes place. This involves married couples giving children and unmarried
adults money in red envelopes. Then the family begins to say greetings
from door to door, first to their relatives and then their neighbors.
Like the Western saying "let bygones be bygones," at Chinese New
Year, grudges are very easily cast aside.
The end of the New Year is marked by the Festival of Lanterns, which is a
celebration with singing, dancing and lantern shows.
The Chinese New Year is celebrated some time between January 17 and February 19, at the time of the new moon, and it is called Yuan Tan. It is celebrated by Chinese people
all over the world, and street processions are an exciting part of their New
Year.

The Festival of
Lanterns is the street processions, and thousands of lanterns are used to
light the way for the New Year
The Chinese people believe
that there are evil spirits around at New
Year, so they let off
firecrackers to frighten the spirits away. Sometimes they seal their
windows and doors with paper to keep the evil spirits out.

In Europe, New Year was often a time for
superstition and fortune-telling, and in some parts of Switzerland and
Austria, people dress up to celebrate Saint Sylvester's Eve. In AD 314, there was a Pope
called Saint Sylvester, and people believed that he captured a terrible sea
monster. It was thought that in the year 1000, this sea monster would escape and destroy the world, but since it
didn't happen, the people were delighted.

Since then, in parts of Austria
and Switzerland, this story is remembered at New
Year, and people dress up in
fantastic costumes, and are called Sylvesterklauses.

In Greece, New
Year's Day is also the Festival
of Saint Basil. Saint Basil was famous for his kindness, and Greek children
leave their shoes by the fire on New Year's
Day with the hope that he will come and fill the shoes with gifts.

In Scotland, New
Year is called Hogmanay, and in
some villages barrels of tar are set alight and rolled through the streets.
Thus, the old year is burned up and
the new one allowed to enter.
Scottish people believe that
the first person to enter your house in the New
Year will bring good or bad
luck, and it is very good luck if the visitor is a dark-haired man bringing
a gift. This custom is called first-footing.
The song, Auld Lang Syne
is sung at midnight on New Year's
Eve, and this custom is now celebrated all over the world.

In British Columbia, Canada,
there is the traditional polar bear swim. People of all ages put on their
bathing suits, and plunge into the icy cold water which surrounds Vancouver
during the winter.

The United States
rings in the New Year with it's largest celebration since 1908, the dropping
of the ball in New York's Time Square. Then on New Year's Day it celebrates
with the Tournement of Roses Parade, held for over
100 years in Pasadena, California, by decorating floats with
thousands of flowers, seeds and other plant materials. In Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania they have the Mummers' Parade.

Famous Squares ~ 500,000+
New Yorkers have Times Square, 250,000+ Berliners have The Brandenburg Gate, 100,000+ Muscovites have Red Square, 100,000+ Londoners have
Trafalgar Square.

Say Happy New Year in any language!

(please contact us
with more languages that we have omitted
and please, let us know if you see an error!)

Country

Happy
New Year

Afghanistan

Saale
Nao Mubbarak

Africa
- Afrikaans

Gelukkige
nuwe jaar

Albania

Gezuar
Vitin e Ri

Arabia

Antum
salimoun

Bengal

Shuvo
Nabo Barsho

China

Chu
Shen Tan

Corsica

Pace
e Salute

Cymraeg
(Welsh)

Blwyddyn
Newydd Dda

Czech
Republic

Scastny
Novy Rok

Denmark

Godt
Nytår

Dutch

GELUKKIG
NIEUWJAAR!

Eskimo

Kiortame
pivdluaritlo

Estonia

Head
uut aastat!

Finland

Onnellista
Uutta Vuotta

France

Bonne
Annee

Gaelic

Bliadhna
mhath ur

Germany

Prosit
Neujahr

Greece

Kenourios
Chronos

Hawaii

Hauoli
Makahiki Hou

Hebrew

L'Shannah
Tovah

Hindi

Nahi
varsh ka shub kamna

Indonesia

Selamat
Tahun Baru

Iraq

Sanah
Jadidah

Ireland

Bliain
nua fe mhaise dhuit

Italy

Felice
anno nuovo

Laotia

Sabai
dee pee mai

Nepal

Nawa
Barsha ko Shuvakamana

Norway

Godt
Nyttår

Papua
New Guinea

Nupela
yia i go long yu

Philippines

Manigong
Bagong Taon

Poland

Szczesliwego
Nowego Roku

Portugal

Feliz
Ano Novo

Punjabi

Nave
sal di mubarak

Romania

AN
NOU FERICIT

Russia

S
Novim Godom

Serbia-Croatia

Sretna
nova godina

Sindhi

Nayou
Saal Mubbarak Hoje

Singhalese

Subha
Aluth Awrudhak Vewa

Slovakia

A
stastlivy Novy Rok

Somali

Iyo
Sanad Cusub Oo Fiican!

Spain

Feliz
Ano ~Nuevo

Swahili

Heri
Za Mwaka Mpyaº

Sudan

Warsa
Enggal

Tamil

Eniya
Puthandu Nalvazhthukkal

Thailand

Sawadee
Pee Mai

Turkey

Yiliniz
Kutlu Olsun

Ukrain

Shchastlyvoho
Novoho Roku

Urdu

Naya
Saal Mubbarak Ho

Vietnam

Chuc
Mung Tan Nien

New Year's
Food Traditions

Everyone around the globe celebrates with food. Here are just a few
traditional foods eaten around the world to ring in the New Year.

Olie Bollen a
donut-like fritter is popular in Holland for New Year.

Eating pickled
herring as the first bite of the New Year is said to bring good luck to those of
Polish descent.

Eating noodles at midnight is
traditional at Buddhist temples in Japan.

In Cuba they eat 12
grapes at the stroke of midnight for good luck. The 12 grapes signify the
last twelve months of the year.

Black-eyed peas, fish, apples,
and beets are eaten for luck at the Jewish New Year's celebration.

German tradition is
eating herring at the stroke of midnight to bring luck for the next year.

In the southern United
States, it is believed eating black eyed peas on New Year's Eve will
bring luck for the coming year. Other customary New Year foods in the
south includeeating
greens such as cabbage, collard greens, mustard greens, kale or spinach to
bring money and cornbread to bring wealth.

The traditional eating greens
can be found in other cultures as well, although the cabbage can take many
forms, such as sauerkraut or even kimchee.

In the Philippines, it
is important to have food on the table at midnight in order to insure an
abundance of food in the upcoming year.

And in Denmark Boiled
Cod is the fare for New Year's Eve.

If you know of other ethnic or
regional New Year's food traditions, please let us know so we can include
them. Email us at: mailbag@emotionscards.com

2004 New Year's
Time Table / Clock

Kiritimati on the Christmas
Islands, Kiribati and Tonga enter the year 2004 first.